-Caveat Lector-
Chinese oil giant buys into Iraq, stock market Sinopec slips on
New York Stock Exchange amid scandals, market jitters
By Charles Smith
� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
As the Dow Jones bottomed out below the 10,000 mark, Chinese oil
giant Sinopec slipped on its initial public stock offer during
trading on the New York Stock Exchange, just as news broke that
the second largest Chinese state oil company had also signed an
exclusive deal to drill oil in Iraq.
According to a Dow Jones report yesterday, Shengli Petroleum
Corp, a unit of Sinopec, has been granted a contract from Iraq to
drill 24 oil wells. Sinopec officials stated the contract
wouldn't become effective until it is approved by the United
Nations, which has imposed sanctions on Iraq for its invasion of
Kuwait 10 years ago.
The news that Sinopec was in business with Iraq broke just after
Sinopec subsidiary, Zhongyuan Petroleum Corp., had previously
come under fire for business ties in war-torn Sudan. According to
Sinopec officials, Zhongyuan invested $30 million in the Sudan 6
oilfield, conducting surveys and drilling four wells. In July,
Sinopec elected to sell all Zhongyuan's investments in Sudan to
the largest Chinese oil company PetroChina in order to clear the
way for its stock offering in the United States.
Sudan's support for terrorism and a 12-year-old war that has
consumed nearly 2 million lives, led the U.S. government to
impose sanctions on the Khartoum regime. However, the sale of
Zhongyuan by Sinopec did not deflect protests from American-based
human rights groups petitioning the Security and Exchange
Commission to delay the Sinopec offering.
"Given the significance of Sudan to many Americans, including
American investors, this connection is of considerable material
importance in understanding the risks associated with purchase of
Sinopec shares," wrote Dr. Charles Jacobs, president of the
American Anti-Slavery Organization, in a protest letter to the
Security and Exchange Commission.
"In such a context it is imperative that the SEC delay trading of
Sinopec, and provide investors a disclosure addendum, outlining
precisely the nature of Sinopec's Sudan connections," said
Jacobs. "Investors have a right to know the sort of risk posed by
a company with connections to Sudan. The SEC has a responsibility
to insure that this knowledge is fully available."
The Sinopec offering, underwritten by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter,
occurred just as U.S. stocks were bloodied in early trade losses,
with the blue-chip Dow industrials index plummeting more than 420
points in the morning, putting it below 10,000.
Morgan Stanley officials were contacted and a spokesman asserted
that Sinopec had completely divested itself of its Sudanese
holdings. The spokesman also expressed confidence in the Chinese
oil stock, but refused to issue any comment for the record.
"Scandalously, the SEC has allowed this trading to start without
insisting that Morgan Stanley, underwriters for the Sinopec IPO,
reveal fully the nature of these Sudan connections," said human
rights activist Eric Smith.
"The effect is to expose American investors to the potent risks
attending any investment, in any oil company, with connections to
Sudan. In this case, the SEC has simply ignored or abandoned one
of its central functions: to insure that there is full disclosure
of all material risks inherent in a pending capital market
listing."
Although the Sinopec stock offering fell below expectations, the
three largest publicly traded oil companies, Exxon Mobil Corp, BP
Amoco Plc and Royal Dutch/Shell Group plan to invest a combined
$1.83 billion in the Chinese state-owned oil company. With the
backing of Exxon, BP Amoco and other U.S. oil firms, Sinopec
remains optimistic about meeting its goal of raising $3.5 billion
inside the American financial market.
"Sinopec shouldn't do too badly," said Frederick Tsang, research
director at China Everbright Securities in a Reuters business
report.
"A lot of institutional investors are committed to the stock and
even if it doesn't do well in the first few days that wouldn't be
catastrophic," said Tsang.
Yet, the oil industry does not spend all of its recent profits
buying Chinese state-owned oil company stock. According to
Citizens for Responsive Politics, a non-profit Washington
watchdog group, the U.S. oil industry made over $100 million in
political contributions during the last decade.
More recently, Texas-based Exxon, backer of yesterday's Sinopec
offering, has made several large donations to George W. Bush.
According to records compiled by the Federal Election Commission,
Exxon Mobil Corp. donated over $1.5 million dollars directly to
the Republican presidential candidate. At the same time, Exxon
donated $99,000 to Democrat candidate Vice President Al Gore.
The Exxon connection to Sinopec appears to be a perfect
opportunity for Gore to press allegations that big oil companies
control Republicans. For example, Federal Election Commission
records also show that Exxon spent over $5.6 million dollars
lobbying Congress in 1998 alone.
However, the Clinton-Gore administration also has troubling ties
to Sinopec and Exxon through its Washington, D.C.-based lobbying
firm Cassidy Associates. While Cassidy Associates controls the
millions of dollars spent each year by Exxon to lobby Capitol
Hill, the small firm has also made hundreds of thousands of
dollars in political donations to both parties. According to
Federal Election Commission records, Cassidy Associates made a
total of over 2,500 political contributions between 1991 and
1998, nearly one donation every two days.
Moreover, Cassidy Associates worked closely with former Commerce
Secretary Ron Brown and convicted Chinagate fundraiser John
Huang. Cassidy Associates sent Democrat donor Maeley Tom to
Indonesia on an August 1994 Ron Brown trade mission to Jakarta,
Indonesia. The same mission included convicted Democrat
fundraisers Charlie Trie, Pauline Kanchanalak and Nora Lum.
Cassidy Associates' Maeley Tom, according to the Cox report,
helped Huang stay in touch with his boss, Indonesian billionaire
Moctar Riady.
According to the Cox report, "Huang maintained contact with
representatives of the Lippo Group while he was at the Department
of Commerce during the 18 months that he was at Commerce. Huang
called Lippo Bank 232 times, in addition to 29 calls or faxes to
Lippo Headquarters in Indonesia. Huang also contacted Lippo
consultant Maeley Tom on 61 occasions during the same period."
In addition, John Huang was given information that the
Clinton/Gore administration ignored corruption inside an
Indonesian energy deal struck with Exxon. According to a Commerce
Department briefing document found inside the files of John
Huang, the CIA told Huang about corruption involving Indonesian
dictator Suharto inside an Exxon Corp. $3.5 billion Natuna Sea
Gas project.
According to the document, the CIA told Huang that Suharto "first
family involvement" in the Exxon project was "probably pervasive
-- they are involved in almost all major sectors."
The document was obtained from the Clinton-Gore administration
using the Freedom of Information Act. Immediately after meeting
with the CIA, Huang reportedly called the Lippo group.
Huang pleaded guilty in 1999 to federal charges of making illegal
political contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign. Huang took
the Fifth Amendment more than 2,000 times when asked under oath
if he had ties to Chinese intelligence.
=================================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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